Bob Rohner has posted a fundraiser at Indiegogo titled: “The Gyrokinetic Plasma Engine by RGEnergy” with brief description: “Explore and complete the steps needed to get this unique clean plasma technology to market.” Make sure you pass it on to your social media, contacts and favorite news sources.

In this flexible funding campaign, he’s looking to raise $264,000 to 1) complete the crossover circuitry, 2) construct the Papp fuel mixer, and 3) either restore the original Rohner-designed Papp engine or build a new one.

For archive history purposes, I’ve copied the text below, but would encourage you to go directly to Indiegogo to see the campaign and contribute.

Also, Bob was on the SmartScarecrow show this past Thursday night, giving an overview of the technology. His portion starts 45 minutes into the show.

Here’s what is posted at Indiegogo:

The Gyrokinetic Engine by RGEnergy

Our Motivation

Hello, I am Bob Rohner, a retired engineer. As I grow older, my chief concerns have turned to the future being left for my six grandkids. I worry if they will have the clean air and cheap energy I had as I was growing up. I worry that their quality of life will deteriorate into some futuristic sci-fi horror movie instead of the brighter future we have all envisioned for these new arrivals. I worry about the climate changes, super-storms, blizzards, and droughts that are becoming prevalent.

Many of you out there feel the same way, of that I am sure. The need for a viable clean alternative method of power generation has become overwhelmingly apparent. I believe we may sitting on just the needed solution. I hope you will take part in supporting this attempt to free the world of the debilitating polluting chemicals being forced into our bodies and our environment.

The Engine

An amazing engine was invented over 30 years ago by a man named Joseph Papp. The engine had no cooling system, no intake, and no exhaust. It was fueled by an inexpensive mixture of inert gasses sealed into its cylinders. The engine was elegantly simple in construction and adaptable to mass production. It can be readily sized for individual home generation use in the Kilowatts up to village use in the megawatts. Its high torque power output was certified as correct to the USPTO. Unfortunately the eccentric and controversial inventor died taking the secrets to the fuel with him.

The Company

The overwhelming needs to complete the development of such a clean and safe device lead to the creation of our company RGEnergy (Rohner Group). My brother Tom and I, both engineers, who worked together to design and build the original gyrokinetic engines, would function as the principle investigators, joined by respected scientist, engineers and consultants. We lost Tom to pancreatic cancer two years ago and have been struggling to find a perfect replacement since.

The Progress

Our efforts to restore this technology to operational status have taken giant steps forward. We have demonstrated conclusively that large bursts of energy can be induced in inert gases, and this energy is controllable and convertible. Recently published works by the Universities of Wisconsin and Missouri are presenting associated verifications of these findings. The results of our work to date is far more than can be viewed and discussed in this short paragraph and we ask you to view our www.RGEnergy.com, and YouTube channels to learn more.

Our Goals (with your help)

As quoted from our good friend and advisor Dr. Michael McKubre:

“This is a power source that mankind needs to have. We need to make a push and get this energy out in the hands of the people.

First, completion of the crossover circuitry. To run at maximum efficiency, the gyrokinetic engine needs to take advantage of the large electrical plasma discharge in one cylinder to trigger the opposing cylinder. Involved will be the analysis and construction of the circuitry as well as the completion of a full cycle twin cylinder testing apparatus. This test apparatus which is marginally operational now will permit the tweaking of the crossover pre-excitement voltages and plasma discharges to obtain the maximum power output.Second, the construction of the Papp fuel mixer per our understanding of Papp’s patent discussions and personal papers. The original mixer built by Papp was destroyed in transit. Originally this inert gas mixer was considered unnecessary. However, new information discovered in his papers as well as the finding regarding the crippling effects that even the smallest of mixture changes and contamination can have on the plasma performance of the gas mix has compelled us to rethink this.
The funding will include providing full material assistance and direction to a volunteer team of engineers.Finally, we will either restore the original Rohner designed Papp engine or build a new one from scratch. The original engine is sufficiently robust to present the entire power output as a serial (final functional) engine. The retrofit would involve the remanufacture of the stainless carrier sleeves, heads, and electronics. This fully functional and reliable (but not, by any mean field ready) engine then becomes the tool for attracting the engine manufactures. Associated with this step will be the filing of full patent applications.

The Funding

With good budgeting it appears that approximately $264,000 will be needed to get past the first and perhaps second stage. We will at that time determine if the energy output is sufficient to continue to the third stage of engine building directly or detour through an alternative path. In either event a second crowd fund may become necessary. Complete funding for the projects are estimated at $480,000, however as with all research this could be twice or half the eventual need. We anticipate completion of stage 1 and 2 by the end of the year, but as with financing this could be twice or half the remaining time.

Enviromental Notes

The environmental benefits of having no emissions what-so-ever should be quite obvious to all. What makes this new plasma energy source even more valuable is its ability to produce its power output on demand whether mechanically or electrically. No massive and expensive energy storage systems or exotic chemically hazardous batteries are needed to match the fluctuating demands of the consumer.

Company Goals

RGEnergy is driven only to take the engines to this final prototype stage before turning them over to the engine manufacturers with their vastly superior technology skills, and manufacturing abilities. We are in no way interested in reinventing the wheel. It is our belief that a superior product will be created by the existing manufacturers as they jump-in and retool voluntarily once the availability and standardized fuels cells is complete.

Initially, we believe that these engines will likely be relegated to functions such as regional power generation and pumping, until the development and reliability reaches a sufficient level to allow wider applications. Here we are getting ahead of ourselves and only speculating. But with each engine replaced the world will get healthier.

Thank You

The support , the technical details, and the history is a far richer story than can be presented here. Please be sure to visit our website at www.rgenergy.com to learn more.
Your contribution could be the final piece of the puzzle. If you can’t contribute I would appreciate it if you would spread the word to others who can.

Bob is not offering to open source. If someone wants to fund someone
chasing Papp who is open source, then sending money Russ Gries’ way is
the thing to do.

If Bob would produce an energy balance test that shows he can extract energy from inert gases then he would have deep pocketed financiers lined-up at his door. he would not need crowd funding. Unlike JPR, Bob actually has an engineering education. Bob should know full well how to perform an energy balance test.

When investigating a possible energy source, the obvious step 1 is to see if there is apparent net energy. A simple “popper” should be good enough. Bob had previously said that he had no motivation to publish energy balance tests because he had all the investment money he needs. Even if Bob merely said publicly that he has favorable energy balance results, a number of VCs would be seeking him out. Most would of course want to perform diligence on those claims before parting with big money. Since Bob now needs money, his best move is to at a minimum state what his energy balance results are to attract private money, or if he wants to crowd fund publish energy balance test protocol and results from tests he has performed that convince him that the inert gases are fuel for his engines. IMO, anything less is not likely to draw much interest.

Dog-One

I have to agree with Mark. Bob will never in his remaining lifetime squeak this through the patent office. His best bet is to document what he has and what he knows and share it, get more eyes on it. With dozens of serious OpenSource builders, someone surely could find the sweet spot and get something fully functional within the next couple of years. From there, news of the success would spread on its own and with it already being OpenSource technology, any company that wants to jump on the bandwagon could really only charge for their labor and materials to build the engine, support for installation and maintenance and maybe even classes to help others get started. Bob could certainly find a niche position within one of those companies if he so chose.

Bob really needs to change his thinking about big business. We have seen it time and time again how businesses buy up patents that threaten the energy monopoly and get buried for generations. Bob might make a quick buck that way, but he certainly won’t improve the future for his grand-kids or anyone else. The only way to get this technology in the hands of the masses is to have working engines in garages around the country and a simple downloadable PDF that shows how to build it. I’m quite certain we can help Bob get there if he will just let us fully participate. There is nothing stopping Bob Rohner from being the next Linus Torvalds except himself.

Asterix

I’ve mentioned it in an earlier post, but here, in bullet form, are my comments.

1. Plasmas have the property that when produced, their volume is much greater than the composite gases. The expansion speed is also very high. This is why a generated plasma has been used on most nuclear warheads as a detonator for decades; cf. “slapper detonator”, which uses a thin metal foil as the plasma source (easier to maintain than a gaseous source).

2. This is not an energy source–that is, it will not function without energy input of some sort. It does not produce more energy than is input–i.e. it is not over-unity.

3. Absent some sort of new sealing system, there are emissions–the motor will leak helium, given the small size of the helium molecule. Otherwise, the helium/gas mixture tank would be completely unnecessary–one could charge the plasma chamber once and forget about it.

4. Given that the energy used to power this device is derived through the ignition (spark plug) circuitry, efficiency may be well under that achieved by a high-efficiency electrical motor.

5. The potential advantages of this system derive mostly from the speed and magnitude of expansion of a created plasma. Thus, very high speeds may be one of them; applications where a high-speed reciprocating action may well be another.

6. A big disadvantage would appear to be the erosion of the spark plug electrodes by the generated plasma after extended periods of operation.

At least this is the way I see this device, after having stripped away the Papp claims. If Mr. Rohner would care to comment on my observations, I’d be delighted to hear from him.

BobRohner

Asterix – I will review and post what I think over on our NGE face book blog. I believe we can get a lot of good, meaningful, and lengthy discussion going over your points. I’ll try to get to it over the weekend. In the meantime work at the shop and this funding campaign have me pretty well pinned down.

Mark Euthanasius

Bob’s got a technical problem. He has a function generator with complementary outputs and he wants to use that to get two pulses 180 degrees out of phase. The complementary outputs are by definition already 180 degrees out of phase. What Bob really wants is something to give him pulses with different duty cycles than 180 degrees. What Bob needs is a one-shot for each output, Q AND /Q. A 555 will do for each circuit. 556′s are two 555′s in one package. Radio Shack sells TLC555′s and LM556′s. I like the TLC555′s better, but either will do.

Craig Stangland

I am a bit perplexed given how long Bob has been working on this device that this electronic issue is still around. 2ndly, it seems that his “turbine” version which he demonstrated on another video, would make far more sense given it has only one moving part. What I see keeps happening in this and other inventor labs is they just keep inventing! Imagine if the people who “invented” the gas engine kept inventing until they had a supercharged, fuel injected, 600 hp engine! The gas piston engine would never have made it to market for 100 years. Come on inventors, stop improving and get your basic working model to production. Take the profits THEN keep improving. If it’s not working then say so and explain why after so many years you haven’t been able to make it work and why just a little more money WILL make it work. This is a reoccurring theme with inventors. Just a little more money and a little more time.

BobRohner

Craig the pulse I was looking for and solved with four simple $5.00 Hall effect sensors is for the rotary. The electrics were Tom’s bailiwick and he died two years ago.

waynegnarlie1

Sterling, Why are you giving someone you’ve called a “known liar” a venue for duping more investors, and recommending we donate to his crowd funding effort? Please help me, I can’t wrap my head around this.

sterlingda

You are confusing the two brothers. John Rohner is in Vegas. Bob Rohner (featured here) is in Iowa. They are nemesis of each other.

waynegnarlie1

Thanks for the clarification Sterling. My apologies to you and Bob Rohner.

PleaseConvinceMe

It appears that that the basic question of OU on the plasma expansion cycle has not been answered. It seems to me that a simple popper with some kind of instrumentation to measure input and output power would suffice to prove that OU is possible. Has anybody ever gotten past that point? If not, the whole purpose of engineering a complete Papp engine, rotary or otherwise is totally pointless.

sterlingda

It’s still up. He’s raised $2,318 so far.

Mark Euthanasius

Sterling you mean that it is back up. For three days, it was not visible.

sterlingda

Have you ever heard of a software bug or glitch? It’s something that happens from time to time here on planet Earth, with durations between seconds and days. But usually they are resolved.

Mark Euthanasius

Sterling according to indiegogo the sponsor, that would be Bob had pulled it back into “draft” mode.